{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,6]],"date-time":"2025-11-06T20:15:13Z","timestamp":1762460113843,"version":"3.40.5"},"reference-count":126,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]],"date-time":"2022-08-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1659571200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.ploscompbiol.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Comput Biol"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In evaluating our choices, we often suffer from two tragic relativities. First, when our lives change for the better, we rapidly habituate to the higher standard of living. Second, we cannot escape comparing ourselves to various relative standards. Habituation and comparisons can be very disruptive to decision-making and happiness, and till date, it remains a puzzle why they have come to be a part of cognition in the first place. Here, we present computational evidence that suggests that these features might play an important role in promoting adaptive behavior. Using the framework of reinforcement learning, we explore the benefit of employing a reward function that, in addition to the reward provided by the underlying task, also depends on prior expectations and relative comparisons. We find that while agents equipped with this reward function are less happy, they learn faster and significantly outperform standard reward-based agents in a wide range of environments. Specifically, we find that relative comparisons speed up learning by providing an exploration incentive to the agents, and prior expectations serve as a useful aid to comparisons, especially in sparsely-rewarded and non-stationary environments. Our simulations also reveal potential drawbacks of this reward function and show that agents perform sub-optimally when comparisons are left unchecked and when there are too many similar options. Together, our results help explain why we are prone to becoming trapped in a cycle of never-ending wants and desires, and may shed light on psychopathologies such as depression, materialism, and overconsumption.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1010316","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]],"date-time":"2022-08-04T17:28:17Z","timestamp":1659634097000},"page":"e1010316","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pcbi.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["The pursuit of happiness: A reinforcement learning perspective on habituation and comparisons"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8216-1999","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Rachit","family":"Dubey","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Thomas L.","family":"Griffiths","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3476-1839","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Peter","family":"Dayan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]]},"reference":[{"issue":"33","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12252","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1407535111","article-title":"A computational and neural model of momentary subjective well-being","volume":"111","author":"RB Rutledge","year":"2014","journal-title":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"},{"issue":"8","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"917","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.36.8.917","article-title":"Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative?","volume":"36","author":"P Brickman","year":"1978","journal-title":"Journal of personality and social psychology"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref003","first-page":"302","volume-title":"Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology","author":"S Frederick","year":"1999"},{"issue":"529","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"F222","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-0297.2008.02150.x","article-title":"Lags and leads in life satisfaction: A test of the baseline hypothesis","volume":"118","author":"AE Clark","year":"2008","journal-title":"The Economic Journal"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref005","first-page":"287","article-title":"Hedonic relativism and planning the good society","author":"P Brickman","year":"1971","journal-title":"Adaptation level theory"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1007\/s11205-007-9217-0","article-title":"Absolute income, relative income, and happiness","volume":"88","author":"R Ball","year":"2008","journal-title":"Social Indicators Research"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"95","DOI":"10.1257\/jel.46.1.95","article-title":"Relative income, happiness, and utility: An explanation for the Easterlin paradox and other puzzles","volume":"46","author":"AE Clark","year":"2008","journal-title":"Journal of Economic Literature"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"405","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jebo.2002.10.007","article-title":"How much do we care about absolute versus relative income and consumption?","volume":"56","author":"F Alpizar","year":"2005","journal-title":"Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref009","first-page":"963","article-title":"Neighbors as negatives: Relative earnings and well-being","volume":"120","author":"EF Luttmer","year":"2005","journal-title":"The Quarterly Journal of Economics"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00292648","article-title":"Is happiness relative?","volume":"24","author":"R Veenhoven","year":"1991","journal-title":"Social indicators research"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"262","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jebo.2010.03.002","article-title":"Money, happiness, and aspirations: An experimental study","volume":"74","author":"M McBride","year":"2010","journal-title":"Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"131","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcps.2011.02.004","article-title":"Happiness and thrift: When (spending) less is (hedonically) more","volume":"21","author":"J Chancellor","year":"2011","journal-title":"Journal of Consumer Psychology"},{"issue":"6","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1141","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.73.6.1141","article-title":"Hedonic consequences of social comparison: A contrast of happy and unhappy people","volume":"73","author":"S Lyubomirsky","year":"1997","journal-title":"Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"112391","DOI":"10.1016\/j.enpol.2021.112391","article-title":"The hedonic treadmill: Electricity access in India has increased, but so have expectations","volume":"156","author":"M Aklin","year":"2021","journal-title":"Energy Policy"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"67","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jebo.2011.12.005","article-title":"Income, aspirations and the hedonic treadmill in a poor society","volume":"82","author":"J Knight","year":"2012","journal-title":"Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"89","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jebo.2003.04.003","article-title":"The role of income aspirations in individual happiness","volume":"54","author":"A Stutzer","year":"2004","journal-title":"Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"15","DOI":"10.1037\/0003-066X.55.1.15","article-title":"The evolution of happiness","volume":"55","author":"DM Buss","year":"2000","journal-title":"American psychologist"},{"volume-title":"You are not meant to be happy. So stop trying","year":"2021","author":"R Euba","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref018"},{"issue":"1449","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1333","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2004.1511","article-title":"Natural selection and the elusiveness of happiness","volume":"359","author":"RM Nesse","year":"2004","journal-title":"Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B: Biological Sciences"},{"issue":"4","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"297","DOI":"10.1038\/embor.2012.26","article-title":"The biology of happiness: chasing pleasure and human destiny","volume":"13","author":"L Kov\u00e1\u010d","year":"2012","journal-title":"EMBO reports"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref021","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"261","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02733986","article-title":"Evolutionary explanations of emotions","volume":"1","author":"RM Nesse","year":"1990","journal-title":"Human Nature"},{"volume-title":"Reinforcement learning: An introduction","year":"1998","author":"RS Sutton","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref022"},{"issue":"12","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref023","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1704","DOI":"10.1038\/nn1560","article-title":"Uncertainty-based competition between prefrontal and dorsolateral striatal systems for behavioral control","volume":"8","author":"ND Daw","year":"2005","journal-title":"Nature Neuroscience"},{"issue":"5306","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref024","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1593","DOI":"10.1126\/science.275.5306.1593","article-title":"A neural substrate of prediction and reward","volume":"275","author":"W Schultz","year":"1997","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref025","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"199","DOI":"10.1016\/j.conb.2006.03.006","article-title":"The computational neurobiology of learning and reward","volume":"16","author":"ND Daw","year":"2006","journal-title":"Current Opinion in Neurobiology"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"312","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2013.09.007","article-title":"Goals and habits in the brain","volume":"80","author":"RJ Dolan","year":"2013","journal-title":"Neuron"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref027","unstructured":"Clune J. AI-GAs: AI-generating algorithms, an alternate paradigm for producing general artificial intelligence. arXiv preprint arXiv:190510985. 2019;."},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref028","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"232","DOI":"10.1162\/artl_a_00294","article-title":"Why open-endedness matters","volume":"25","author":"KO Stanley","year":"2019","journal-title":"Artificial life"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref029","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"37","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4614-1770-5_3","volume-title":"Genetic programming theory and practice IX","author":"J Lehman","year":"2011"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref030","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.1109\/TAMD.2010.2051031","article-title":"Intrinsically motivated reinforcement learning: An evolutionary perspective","volume":"2","author":"S Singh","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref031","unstructured":"Singh S, Lewis RL, Barto AG. Where do rewards come from. In: Proceedings of the annual conference of the cognitive science society. Cognitive Science Society; 2009. p. 2601\u20132606."},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref032","first-page":"2190","article-title":"Reward design via online gradient ascent","volume":"23","author":"J Sorg","year":"2010","journal-title":"Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref033","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ratner E, Hadfield-Menell D, Dragan AD. Simplifying reward design through divide-and-conquer. arXiv preprint arXiv:180602501. 2018;.","DOI":"10.15607\/RSS.2018.XIV.048"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref034","unstructured":"Ng AY, Harada D, Russell S. Policy invariance under reward transformations: Theory and application to reward shaping. In: International Conference on Machine Learning. vol. 99; 1999. p. 278\u2013287."},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref035","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Milli S, Hadfield-Menell D, Dragan A, Russell S. Should robots be obedient? arXiv preprint arXiv:170509990. 2017;.","DOI":"10.24963\/ijcai.2017\/662"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref036","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"86","DOI":"10.1002\/9780470939338.ch6","volume-title":"Positive Psychology in Practice","author":"B Schwartz","year":"2004"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref037","first-page":"1057","volume-title":"Advances in neural information processing systems","author":"RS Sutton","year":"2000"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref038","unstructured":"Schulman J, Moritz P, Levine S, Jordan M, Abbeel P. High-dimensional continuous control using generalized advantage estimation. arXiv preprint arXiv:150602438. 2015;."},{"issue":"3-4","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref039","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"279","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00992698","article-title":"Q-learning","volume":"8","author":"CJ Watkins","year":"1992","journal-title":"Machine learning"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref040","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"237","DOI":"10.1613\/jair.301","article-title":"Reinforcement learning: A survey","volume":"4","author":"LP Kaelbling","year":"1996","journal-title":"Journal of artificial intelligence research"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref041","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"209","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1017984413808","article-title":"Near-optimal reinforcement learning in polynomial time","volume":"49","author":"M Kearns","year":"2002","journal-title":"Machine learning"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref042","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Tijsma AD, Drugan MM, Wiering MA. Comparing exploration strategies for Q-learning in random stochastic mazes. In: IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence (SSCI); 2016. p. 1\u20138.","DOI":"10.1109\/SSCI.2016.7849366"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref043","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Schmidhuber J. A possibility for implementing curiosity and boredom in model-building neural controllers. In: Proc. of the international conference on simulation of adaptive behavior: From animals to animats; 1991. p. 222\u2013227.","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/3115.003.0030"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref044","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pathak D, Agrawal P, Efros AA, Darrell T. Curiosity-driven exploration by self-supervised prediction. In: International conference on machine learning. PMLR; 2017. p. 2778\u20132787.","DOI":"10.1109\/CVPRW.2017.70"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref045","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-32375-1_2","volume-title":"Intrinsically motivated learning in natural and artificial systems","author":"AG Barto","year":"2013"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref046","unstructured":"Conti E, Madhavan V, Such FP, Lehman J, Stanley KO, Clune J. Improving exploration in evolution strategies for deep reinforcement learning via a population of novelty-seeking agents. arXiv preprint arXiv:171206560. 2017;."},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref047","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00115009","article-title":"Learning to predict by the methods of temporal differences","volume":"3","author":"RS Sutton","year":"1988","journal-title":"Machine learning"},{"issue":"7540","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref048","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"529","DOI":"10.1038\/nature14236","article-title":"Human-level control through deep reinforcement learning","volume":"518","author":"V Mnih","year":"2015","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"Oct","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref049","first-page":"213","article-title":"R-max-a general polynomial time algorithm for near-optimal reinforcement learning","volume":"3","author":"RI Brafman","year":"2002","journal-title":"Journal of Machine Learning Research"},{"issue":"7676","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref050","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"354","DOI":"10.1038\/nature24270","article-title":"Mastering the game of go without human knowledge","volume":"550","author":"D Silver","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref051","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"623","DOI":"10.1007\/s11205-012-0231-5","article-title":"Agent-based simulations of subjective well-being","volume":"115","author":"JA Baggio","year":"2014","journal-title":"Social indicators research"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref052","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1038\/ncomms11825","article-title":"The social contingency of momentary subjective well-being","volume":"7","author":"RB Rutledge","year":"2016","journal-title":"Nature communications"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref053","first-page":"184","volume-title":"The Oxford Handbook of Positive Emotion and Psychopathology","author":"KC Berridge","year":"2019"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref054","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"65","DOI":"10.1016\/j.coph.2008.12.014","article-title":"Dissecting components of reward:\u2018liking\u2019,\u2018wanting\u2019, and learning","volume":"9","author":"KC Berridge","year":"2009","journal-title":"Current opinion in pharmacology"},{"issue":"11","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref055","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1609","DOI":"10.1038\/s41593-018-0232-z","article-title":"Prioritized memory access explains planning and hippocampal replay","volume":"21","author":"MG Mattar","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nature neuroscience"},{"issue":"9","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref056","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e1005768","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1005768","article-title":"Predictive representations can link model-based reinforcement learning to model-free mechanisms","volume":"13","author":"EM Russek","year":"2017","journal-title":"PLoS computational biology"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref057","first-page":"3675","article-title":"Hierarchical deep reinforcement learning: Integrating temporal abstraction and intrinsic motivation","volume":"29","author":"TD Kulkarni","year":"2016","journal-title":"Advances in neural information processing systems"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref058","unstructured":"Dubey R, Agrawal P, Pathak D, Griffiths TL, Efros AA. Investigating human priors for playing video games. arXiv preprint arXiv:180210217. 2018;."},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref059","unstructured":"Burda Y, Edwards H, Pathak D, Storkey A, Darrell T, Efros AA. Large-scale study of curiosity-driven learning. arXiv preprint arXiv:180804355. 2018;."},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref060","article-title":"# Exploration: A study of count-based exploration for deep reinforcement learning","volume":"30","author":"H Tang","year":"2017","journal-title":"Advances in neural information processing systems"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref061","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"168","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmp.2008.11.002","article-title":"A Bayesian analysis of human decision-making on bandit problems","volume":"53","author":"M Steyvers","year":"2009","journal-title":"Journal of Mathematical Psychology"},{"issue":"1481","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref062","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"933","DOI":"10.1098\/rstb.2007.2098","article-title":"Should I stay or should I go? How the human brain manages the trade-off between exploitation and exploration","volume":"362","author":"JD Cohen","year":"2007","journal-title":"Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences"},{"issue":"7095","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref063","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"876","DOI":"10.1038\/nature04766","article-title":"Cortical substrates for exploratory decisions in humans","volume":"441","author":"ND Daw","year":"2006","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"Nov","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref064","first-page":"397","article-title":"Using confidence bounds for exploitation-exploration trade-offs","volume":"3","author":"P Auer","year":"2002","journal-title":"Journal of Machine Learning Research"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref065","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"235","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1013689704352","article-title":"Finite-time analysis of the multiarmed bandit problem","volume":"47","author":"P Auer","year":"2002","journal-title":"Machine learning"},{"issue":"12","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref066","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"915","DOI":"10.1038\/s41562-018-0467-4","article-title":"Generalization guides human exploration in vast decision spaces","volume":"2","author":"CM Wu","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nature human behaviour"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref067","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"34","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cognition.2017.12.014","article-title":"Deconstructing the human algorithms for exploration","volume":"173","author":"SJ Gershman","year":"2018","journal-title":"Cognition"},{"issue":"4","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref068","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"378","DOI":"10.1080\/00201740903087359","article-title":"Wanting and liking: Observations from the neuroscience and psychology laboratory","volume":"52","author":"KC Berridge","year":"2009","journal-title":"Inquiry"},{"issue":"5","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref069","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"537","DOI":"10.1016\/j.physbeh.2009.02.044","article-title":"\u2018Liking\u2019and \u2018wanting\u2019 food rewards: brain substrates and roles in eating disorders","volume":"97","author":"KC Berridge","year":"2009","journal-title":"Physiology & behavior"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref070","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dayan P. \u2018Liking\u2019as a First Draft of the Affective Future. PsyArXiv. 2021;.","DOI":"10.31234\/osf.io\/g7zfq"},{"issue":"5","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref071","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1178","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.83.5.1178","article-title":"Maximizing versus satisficing: happiness is a matter of choice","volume":"83","author":"B Schwartz","year":"2002","journal-title":"Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"},{"issue":"5","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref072","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"515","DOI":"10.1080\/09645292.2015.1042960","article-title":"Rising aspirations dampen satisfaction","volume":"23","author":"AE Clark","year":"2015","journal-title":"Education Economics"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref073","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"64","DOI":"10.1016\/j.joep.2018.04.005","article-title":"Great expectations: Education and subjective wellbeing","volume":"66","author":"I Kristoffersen","year":"2018","journal-title":"Journal of Economic Psychology"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref074","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"409","DOI":"10.1093\/0195305191.003.0028","volume-title":"Understanding poverty","author":"D Ray","year":"2006"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref075","article-title":"The missing \u201cone-offs\u201d: The hidden supply of high-achieving, low income students","author":"CM Hoxby","year":"2012","journal-title":"National Bureau of Economic Research"},{"issue":"4","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref076","first-page":"1","article-title":"Aspiration traps: When poverty stifles hope","volume":"2","author":"S Flechtner","year":"2014","journal-title":"Inequality in Focus"},{"issue":"6","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref077","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1687","DOI":"10.1093\/jeea\/jvz057","article-title":"Presidential address: Aspirations, social norms, and development","volume":"17","author":"E La Ferrara","year":"2019","journal-title":"Journal of the European Economic Association"},{"issue":"8","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref078","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"675","DOI":"10.1089\/acm.2011.0139","article-title":"Delivering happiness: Translating positive psychology intervention research for treating major and minor depressive disorders","volume":"17","author":"K Layous","year":"2011","journal-title":"The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine"},{"issue":"4","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref079","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"947","DOI":"10.1007\/s10902-014-9542-3","article-title":"Using a gratitude intervention to enhance well-being in older adults","volume":"16","author":"A Killen","year":"2015","journal-title":"Journal of happiness Studies"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref080","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"213","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jsp.2007.03.005","article-title":"Counting blessings in early adolescents: An experimental study of gratitude and subjective well-being","volume":"46","author":"JJ Froh","year":"2008","journal-title":"Journal of school psychology"},{"issue":"2002","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref081","first-page":"3","article-title":"Positive psychology, positive prevention, and positive therapy","volume":"2","author":"ME Seligman","year":"2002","journal-title":"Handbook of positive psychology"},{"issue":"4","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref082","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"160","DOI":"10.1145\/122344.122377","article-title":"Dyna, an integrated architecture for learning, planning, and reacting","volume":"2","author":"RS Sutton","year":"1991","journal-title":"ACM Sigart Bulletin"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref083","article-title":"Optimism and Pessimism in Optimised Replay","author":"G Antonov","year":"2021","journal-title":"bioRxiv"},{"issue":"18","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref084","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4643","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1616453114","article-title":"Economic inequality increases risk taking","volume":"114","author":"BK Payne","year":"2017","journal-title":"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref085","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"227","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.69.2.227","article-title":"When comparisons arise","volume":"69","author":"DT Gilbert","year":"1995","journal-title":"Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref086","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1016\/0022-1031(66)90062-X","article-title":"Motivation as a determinant of upward comparison","volume":"1","author":"L Wheeler","year":"1966","journal-title":"Journal of Experimental Social Psychology"},{"issue":"4","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref087","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"217","DOI":"10.1177\/0963721411414632","article-title":"Can feeling too good be bad? Positive emotion persistence (PEP) in bipolar disorder","volume":"20","author":"J Gruber","year":"2011","journal-title":"Current Directions in Psychological Science"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref088","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1037\/a0030262","article-title":"Happiness is best kept stable: positive emotion variability is associated with poorer psychological health","volume":"13","author":"J Gruber","year":"2013","journal-title":"Emotion"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref089","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"222","DOI":"10.1177\/1745691611406927","article-title":"A dark side of happiness? How, when, and why happiness is not always good","volume":"6","author":"J Gruber","year":"2011","journal-title":"Perspectives on Psychological Science"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref090","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"209","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780199251063.003.0011","article-title":"Making sense: The causes of emotional evanescence","volume":"1","author":"TD Wilson","year":"2003","journal-title":"The psychology of economic decisions"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref091","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"175","DOI":"10.1007\/978-90-481-2350-6_8","volume-title":"The science of well-being","author":"S Oishi","year":"2009"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref092","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"487","DOI":"10.1257\/aer.97.2.487","article-title":"Habits, peers, and happiness: an evolutionary perspective","volume":"97","author":"L Rayo","year":"2007","journal-title":"American Economic Review"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref093","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"221","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-0-444-53187-2.00007-3","article-title":"The evolutionary foundations of preferences","volume":"1","author":"AJ Robson","year":"2011","journal-title":"Handbook of social economics"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref094","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-0262.2004.00479.x","article-title":"Information-based relative consumption effects","volume":"72","author":"L Samuelson","year":"2004","journal-title":"Econometrica"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref095","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"302","DOI":"10.1086\/516737","article-title":"Evolutionary efficiency and happiness","volume":"115","author":"L Rayo","year":"2007","journal-title":"Journal of Political Economy"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref096","article-title":"A model of mood as integrated advantage","author":"D Bennett","year":"2021","journal-title":"Psychological Review"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref097","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1038\/ncomms7149","article-title":"Interaction between emotional state and learning underlies mood instability","volume":"6","author":"E Eldar","year":"2015","journal-title":"Nature Communications"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref098","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e57977","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.57977","article-title":"Momentary subjective well-being depends on learning and not reward","volume":"9","author":"B Blain","year":"2020","journal-title":"Elife"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref099","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"15","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2015.07.010","article-title":"Mood as representation of momentum","volume":"20","author":"E Eldar","year":"2016","journal-title":"Trends in Cognitive Sciences"},{"volume-title":"Context-dependent reinforcement learning impairment in depression","year":"2021","author":"A Demmou","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref100"},{"issue":"10","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref101","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1113","DOI":"10.1001\/jamapsychiatry.2021.1844","article-title":"Reinforcement learning disruptions in individuals with depression and sensitivity to symptom change following cognitive behavioral therapy","volume":"78","author":"VM Brown","year":"2021","journal-title":"JAMA psychiatry"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref102","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neubiorev.2016.03.004","article-title":"Assessing anhedonia in depression: Potentials and pitfalls","volume":"65","author":"SJ Rizvi","year":"2016","journal-title":"Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref103","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"537","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neubiorev.2010.06.006","article-title":"Reconsidering anhedonia in depression: lessons from translational neuroscience","volume":"35","author":"MT Treadway","year":"2011","journal-title":"Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref104","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"247","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neubiorev.2015.05.005","article-title":"Reinforcement learning in depression: a review of computational research","volume":"55","author":"C Chen","year":"2015","journal-title":"Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref105","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"507","DOI":"10.1007\/s00213-006-0502-4","article-title":"Tonic dopamine: opportunity costs and the control of response vigor","volume":"191","author":"Y Niv","year":"2007","journal-title":"Psychopharmacology"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref106","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-neuro-071714-033928","article-title":"Depression: a decision-theoretic analysis","volume":"38","author":"QJ Huys","year":"2015","journal-title":"Annual review of neuroscience"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref107","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1016\/j.schres.2018.10.010","article-title":"Clarifying the overlap between motivation and negative symptom measures in schizophrenia research: A meta-analysis","volume":"206","author":"L Luther","year":"2019","journal-title":"Schizophrenia research"},{"issue":"8","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref108","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"470","DOI":"10.1038\/s41583-018-0029-9","article-title":"Neuroscience of apathy and anhedonia: a transdiagnostic approach","volume":"19","author":"M Husain","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nature Reviews Neuroscience"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref109","unstructured":"Zheng Z, Oh J, Hessel M, Xu Z, Kroiss M, Van Hasselt H, et al. What can learned intrinsic rewards capture? In: International Conference on Machine Learning. PMLR; 2020. p. 11436\u201311446."},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref110","unstructured":"Zou H, Ren T, Yan D, Su H, Zhu J. Reward shaping via meta-learning. arXiv preprint arXiv:190109330. 2019;."},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref111","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1162\/CPSY_a_00026","article-title":"Anxiety, avoidance, and sequential evaluation","volume":"4","author":"S Zorowitz","year":"2020","journal-title":"Computational Psychiatry"},{"issue":"3","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref112","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"459","DOI":"10.3390\/bs3030459","article-title":"On the function of boredom","volume":"3","author":"SW Bench","year":"2013","journal-title":"Behavioral sciences"},{"issue":"6","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref113","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"541","DOI":"10.1007\/s10806-006-9008-7","article-title":"The fat of the land: Linking American food overconsumption, obesity, and biodiversity loss","volume":"19","author":"PJ Cafaro","year":"2006","journal-title":"Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref114","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"88","DOI":"10.1038\/s41893-018-0021-4","article-title":"A good life for all within planetary boundaries","volume":"1","author":"DW O\u2019Neill","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nature sustainability"},{"issue":"4","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref115","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"189","DOI":"10.1038\/s43017-020-0039-9","article-title":"The environmental price of fast fashion","volume":"1","author":"K Niinim\u00e4ki","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nature Reviews Earth & Environment"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref116","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1016\/S0921-8009(99)00093-2","article-title":"What can be done to reduce overconsumption?","volume":"32","author":"PM Brown","year":"2000","journal-title":"Ecological Economics"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref117","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"423","DOI":"10.1257\/000282803321455395","article-title":"Jealousy and equilibrium overconsumption","volume":"93","author":"B Dupor","year":"2003","journal-title":"American economic review"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref118","first-page":"89","volume-title":"Nations and households in economic growth","author":"RA Easterlin","year":"1974"},{"issue":"2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref119","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1014411319119","article-title":"Will money increase subjective well-being?","volume":"57","author":"E Diener","year":"2002","journal-title":"Social indicators research"},{"issue":"01","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref120","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/13600818.2010.551006","article-title":"Does economic growth raise happiness in China?","volume":"39","author":"J Knight","year":"2011","journal-title":"Oxford Development Studies"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref121","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1007\/978-94-017-9178-6_12","volume-title":"Global handbook of quality of life","author":"RA Easterlin","year":"2015"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref122","first-page":"151359","article-title":"Scientists\u2019 warning against the society of waste","author":"I Mar\u00edn-Beltr\u00e1n","year":"2021","journal-title":"Science of The Total Environment"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref123","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"810","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jclepro.2018.11.223","article-title":"The Wellbeing\u2013Consumption paradox: Happiness, health, income, and carbon emissions in growing versus non-growing economies","volume":"212","author":"AL Fanning","year":"2019","journal-title":"Journal of Cleaner Production"},{"key":"pcbi.1010316.ref124","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100003","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clrc.2020.100003","article-title":"Affluence and unsustainable consumption levels: The role of consumer credit","volume":"1","author":"R Ahlstr\u00f6m","year":"2020","journal-title":"Cleaner and Responsible Consumption"},{"issue":"1-2","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref125","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"55","DOI":"10.1561\/105.00000003","article-title":"Expenditure Cascades","volume":"1","author":"RH Frank","year":"2014","journal-title":"Review of Behavioral Economics"},{"issue":"1","key":"pcbi.1010316.ref126","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-020-16941-y","article-title":"Scientists\u2019 warning on affluence","volume":"11","author":"T Wiedmann","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nature communications"}],"container-title":["PLOS Computational Biology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1010316","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,30]],"date-time":"2024-09-30T19:20:07Z","timestamp":1727724007000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1010316"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Lusha","family":"Zhu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]]},"references-count":126,"journal-issue":{"issue":"8","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pcbi.1010316","relation":{},"ISSN":["1553-7358"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1553-7358"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,4]]}}}